newcham english news http://www.newscham.net/english ko newscham(mailto:) Unknown 2008-07-15T17:08+09:00 hourly 1 2004-07-01T12:00+09:00 newcham english news 'http://www.newscham.net/data/english_tv/0/free_tibet_2.jpg' http://www.newscham.net/english 80 60 Peace to Tibet http://www.newscham.net/news/view.php?board=english_tv&id=31 Tibet at 4900 meters in altitude,
known as a land of spirit near heaven,
is a land of struggle for independence against Chinese for 60 years.

Not only Tibetan but also people around the world are having rallies and demonstrations continuously as Chinese government is quelling down demonstrations bloodily with its control on the media and the press.

This shows a brief history of Tibet and solidarity action in South Korea.
]]> 참세상 english TV 2008-07-15T16:40:00+09:00 Peace to Tibet 2008-07-15T16:40:00+09:00 Police Fires WaterCannon During Violent Crackdown http://www.newscham.net/news/view.php?board=english_tv&id=30 On 1st of June 2008, the police are firing water cannon to the people in the street. The people's countermeasure council officially reported that 60 were injured. 180 were detained according to an unofficial police report. ]]> 참세상 english TV 2008-07-11T18:38:25+09:00 Police Fires WaterCannon During Violent Crackdown 2008-07-11T18:38:25+09:00 Mass movement halts the neo-liberal bulldozer http://www.newscham.net/news/view.php?board=news_E&id=57



The newly elected neo-conservative regime of President Lee Myungbak has been humbled by the spontaneous emergence of a mass movement, which was sparked by female middle school and high school students, but which has seen the largest and longest sustained demonstrations since the fall of the military dictatorship. The mass protests are primarily against the imposed resumption of the importation of US beef but have, in the course of their development, tapped into latent anger of the Korean population against the implementation of the government’s neo-liberal agenda.

In April this year, Korean President Lee, before meeting George Bush in his Texas ranch, agreed to lift all existing bans on US beef which were imposed in 2003 after a case of mad cow was detected, especially beef over 30 months old which is considered to be more susceptible to mad cow disease.

The move was unpopular due to the perceived scientific risks that it posed to the Korean population and because the Korean market already had found a suitable alternative in consuming its own beef along with the importation of Australian beef.

It is also a strong cultural symbol of class division as the elite of Korean society, that are the vocal supporters of the beef agreement, do not dine on US beef as they are wealthy enough to eat the much preferred but expensive domestically produced beef. On the other hand, the rest of the Korean population will be forced to eat US beef.

However, the Korean market is of high importance to American beef producers (as it was the 3rd largest before the bans were imposed) and the lifting of the beef bans has been tied by the Democrat-controlled US congress as a precondition for the congressional ratification of a Korea-US Free Trade Agreement which has already been signed by the Korean and US administrations.

In response to the agreement, a relatively small group of Korean female middle school and high school students who organized themselves through the internet organized a daily candle-light vigil outside City Hall.

The Beginning

These students were also motivated to protest by a series of proposed educational reforms designed to foster greater competition among already exhausted school students (a common day for an average Korean high-student usually requires a study schedule of 7am-1am) as well as strengthen the elite schools but kept their demands to the issue of US beef.


These protests drew media attention as well as a large amount of sympathy from Korean society. Thus, in the world’s leading internet-infrastructure nation, what became known as a ‘netizens’ movement spontaneously emerged. The open space of the internet drew out an enormous amount of criticism and debate about the government’s policies as well as creativity in how they should be opposed.

The ‘netizens’ movement was able to draw in large amounts of people from the broader layer of society into the protests. These protests grew in number and climaxed on June 10th - the 21st anniversary of the demonstrations that led to the overthrow of the military dictatorship - to attract around 700, 000 demonstrators.

In contrast to demonstrations that were characteristic of the Korean movements in the 1980’s and 90’s these demonstrations were more festive and less militant in their character. Instead of including just organized labour, student and social movements, these candle-light vigils were filled with families and people from all ages and backgrounds. Not only was this new movement not led by the more traditional protest leaders but in some ways it actually acted to revitalize them as they were demoralized from the lost battle against the FTA as well as the emergence of the Lee Myungbak regime.

Dynamics

However, it would be wrong to characterize the candle-light vigil demonstrations simply as a homogenous movement around a simple issue. As these demonstrations were rather spontaneous in their development, they have been both heterogeneous and extremely fluid in its internal dynamics. While at first, there existed a rather clear dichotomy between the ‘netizens’ and ‘activists’, through the course of struggling together, and despite strong debate and the existence of cultural differences, there has been a deepening convergence between the old and new tendencies.

What also occurred in these demonstrations was the broadening of the issues brought in by participants. Where as, the surface issue is beef, demonstrators began producing placards, and chanting slogans that also focused on President Lee’s subservience to the US government and his neo-liberal program of privatization of the health care, of education, of water and electricity as well as his plan to build a canal in a geographically small nation that is a peninsula surrounded by water but which already enjoys highly developed transportation infrastructure. President Lee’s empty but popular electoral slogans were dissipating as his specific policies came under the spotlight and increasing scrutiny.

The upshot of these demonstrations was a major crash in support of the Lee government from 75% in February to 17% in June. Some internal government polls even saw his popularity plummet to 7%. The government went into emergency mode and attempted a number of symbolic gestures to rebuild support. It first attempted a mass resignation of all ministers involved in the signing the accord. It sent negotiators to the United States in order to stop beef over 30 months old to be imported. President Lee, who has built a reputation as a strong-armed leader who took pride in his reputation of ignoring opposition and ‘getting things done’ thus referred to in the

Korean media as ‘the bulldozer’ was humbled into making two separate nationally televised apologies where he expressed remorse for not listening to the concerns of the Korean people and promised to change.

▲  container boxes blocking protesters from government comlex

However, the US congress did not back down and after much wrangling merely offered a temporary voluntary agreement by US farmers not to export beef over 30 months without writing this condition into the accord..

The Korean movement didn’t accept this concession as continued its protests with the government’s tone and response then changing dramatically. President Lee proclaimed all that could be achieved had been done and that all demonstrations needed to cease immediately as it was hurting the economy and paralyzing Korean society. Where the government was originally dismissive and then apologetic towards the movement it made a strategic decision to crush it with force ? with the infamous Korean police state reemerging from the shadows of the democracy era. Starting from late June, the government directed the police to heavily repress the demonstrations resulting in hundreds being arrested and injured through police brutality.

Provocation and Revitalizing Public Support

However, the militant traditions of the Korean student and labour movement allowed the movement to stiffen its resistance to the police violence and respond in kind. The corporate media then ignored the police provocations and only focused on the militant actions of the demonstrators in removing police barricades and taking the riot police head on.
▲  Police are spraying fire extinguisher


▲  Police are spraying water canon

This allowed the government to isolate the movement and increase the violence of the state forces and drawing in the militant sectors into an escalation of violent confrontations while isolating the movement through the mass media. This tactic worked to an extent with polls showing that while Korean people opposed the imports of Korean beef they also wanted to see the demonstrations stop if they became too violent.

But another unforeseen twist occurred that again changed the balance of forces. Just when it appeared the movement was trapped and on a downturn -a group of well known progressive Catholic priests that had also played an important role against the military dictatorship intervened by inserting themselves as a buffer between demonstrators and police. They also supported all the demands of the movement as well as calling for the resignation of the chief of police over the police violence.



This inspired progressive Protestant priests to do the same followed later by Buddhist monks (that are under a general ideological war from the Christian fundamentalist President). This has given physical breathing space to demonstrators as well as revitalized public support for their causes. The latest mobilization drew hundreds of thousands of people again with many fearing that President Lee will return to the authoritarian style of his ideological predecessors during the military dictatorship era.

What has also occurred is the participation of the union movement. At one point, the Korean government ordered the national distribution of US beef that had accumulated in various ports but faced the opposition of waterfront workers who refused to allow it. In the last week, around 45 000 workers, from President Lee’s old company Hyundai, went on a two hour walk-out in solidarity with the protesters.

CEO president in the mire

However, President Lee’s position is becoming increasingly difficult. He was elected in a landslide victory last year with a historically low voter turn-out. His specific neo-liberal policies were not show-cased but rather grand promises combined with empty slogans. His main electoral slogan was “Lee Myungbak will definitely revive the economy” with the details being he will achieve 6% economic growth in his first year while in the long term doubling the average income of the Korean people and making it the world’s 6th largest economy. While the economic growth of Korea has been adequate under the previous regime it came at the expense of a major internal redistribution of wealth and a large social polarization which has created a very large sense of economic insecurity for the working and increasingly squeezed middle-classes.

Lee has also created a reputation, from being a successful CEO of Hyundai of having an indomitable will, but also someone who accomplishes important achievements and who will be able to lead the country into the future. In this context Lee was able to jump on the discontent with the so-called “left” government of ex-President Noh Moohyun and create what appeared to be a monolithic victory. This was reinforced with the general elections, which delivered a strong majority to his Han Nara (One Nation) Party, and well as the fracturing of the neo-liberal opposition parties and the Democratic Labour Party. The appearance however was subsequently betrayed by the fluid nature of Korean politics.

Lee needed to build momentum quickly in reviving economic growth and the central piece to his initial program was implementing a Free Trade Agreement with the United States. The Korean ruling elite is haunted by the spectre of Chinese capitalism that its former economic success based on a model of autonomous state-capitalist export oriented development is now being usurped by the rise of China and that Korea will need to move away from obsolete autonomous economic development to creating a new niche in the world market through information technology and other services.

The FTA agreement will give large advantages to the giant Korean conglomerates (known as Chaebol) but spell disaster for many other aspects of the economy that couldn’t compete with the United States. Being materially and ideologically tied to big business, Lee sees the mass accumulation of capital as the motor of the new economy, thus requiring not only a FTA but also a program of mass privatization and tax cuts for big business.

However, unlike the two previous administrations which had many important cadre recruited out of the democracy movement, Lee surrounded himself with close allies, spokesmen of big business and the fundamentalist Protestant Church that he attends. Where as the previous two regimes were able to use their organic links to the democratic movement to co-opt and largely keep the population demobilized President Lee enjoys no such capacity.

The upshot being that the first real major initiative that he attempted to implement faced major opposition. Furthermore, this opposition didn’t emerge from the established movements but from the ranks of previously inactive people, thus making it more difficult to control.

The Free Trade Agreement with the United States cannot be implemented without the prior implementation of the beef agreement. And if the US congress doesn’t implement it before the end of the Bush regime, it is quite likely that it will not get implemented at all as the likely next US president Barak Obama has proclaimed that it’s too favorable to Korean industrialists and will need to be reviewed.

Consequently it is imperative for President Lee to implement the beef accord. But it has come at the cost of a losing all political momentum for future privatization projects as well as a general and strong disenchantment with the administration over its policies and authoritarian method of dealing with dissent. It has also led to a revitalization of the activist movements which will now have much greater confidence to resist the neo-liberal agenda of President Lee. It has also led to a new form of activism that has transcended the previous traditions born as a product of having to work underground but not effective in building the movement today. The emergence of the mass movement and its confrontation with the state has already begun to scare away foreign investment and the economic paralysis has contributed to a significant increase in inflation with all economic factors doing worse under the current administration than under the former, thus negating President Lee’s basis for a policy blank cheque to do as he pleases.

Unforeseen Trajectory

As there is no central leadership of this movement it’s very difficult to gauge its future direction or even what will happen in the near future. It is clear that this is not merely a replay of the same political dynamic of earlier movements. The lack of popularity in Lee Myungbak has not translated into a significant increase in support of the traditional opposition political parties. The phenomena is dynamic and constantly evolving along with the consciousness of those involved.


Each new development - and especially the future trajectory - is largely unforeseen by analysts and even activists. No one is sure how successful the movement will be in stopping the importation of American beef but it has certainly fractured the seemingly monolithic aura of President Lee and his neo-liberal bulldozer and will perhaps spark a new generation of class struggle in South Korea. ]]> english_news 2008-07-09T10:55:12+09:00 Mass movement halts the neo-liberal bulldozer 2008-07-09T10:55:12+09:00 This is the way of "Korean Democracy"(1) http://www.newscham.net/news/view.php?board=english_tv&id=29 Mass protest caused by the Korean government's beef imports has lasted more than a month. Being angry, more than a hundred thousand people gathered central Seoul.

On 28th of July, it was witnessed that police were beating and kicking demonstrators' faces and heads in very organized ways to quell the peaceful candle light rallies.

"They're overwhelmed by police. Make line and push people" the police commander said.

This is the "democracy" the government has said.
]]> 참세상 english TV 2008-06-30T17:58:33+09:00 This is the way of "Korean Democracy"(1) 2008-06-30T17:58:33+09:00 This is the way of "Korean Democracy"(2) http://www.newscham.net/news/view.php?board=english_tv&id=28 With the commander's saying "They're overwhelmed by police. Make line and push people", the 2nd quelling of the day was started.

At 21:10 on 28th of July, police were firing and spraying water and extinguisher waiving shields and sticks.

Just in 10 minutes, demonstrators were pushed to the pavement. While this, more than a hundred people were wounded. ]]> 참세상 english TV 2008-06-30T17:56:25+09:00 This is the way of "Korean Democracy"(2) 2008-06-30T17:56:25+09:00 More than the milidary dictatorship? http://www.newscham.net/news/view.php?board=english_tv&id=27 Angry with bus barricade which blocked to the main road to the Presidetial palace and government offices, people shaking bus barricade.

Around 9: 10 p.m. police started spraying water and extinguisher to sit-in demonstrators. They were chanting "step down, Lee Myungbak".

Around 12:00 in the morning, police started quelling the demonstration waving shields and sticks.

People were chanting "Don't give up the fight!" "Candles, Cheers!"

Police aggressively assaulted peaceful candle light demonstrators including kids, women, and students.

A day before, the government threatened that it would mix tear gas with the water. it said there will be fluorescent materials in the water to figure out who participate in the rally.

Police chief Eo cheong-soo said the police oppression would "be back to the one of the 1980s" under the military dictatorship. ]]> 참세상 english TV 2008-06-30T17:49:46+09:00 More than the milidary dictatorship? 2008-06-30T17:49:46+09:00 South Korea:The general election and left-wing politics http://www.newscham.net/news/view.php?board=news_E&id=56
The DLP won two constituency seats and three seats from the party list, with 5.6% or 973,345 votes. The DLP’s seats were halved compared with the result of the previous election in 2004 of 10 seats — two constituency seats plus eight list seats, respectively. The Progressive New Party (PNP), which split from the DLP, won no seats and obtained 2.94%, less than the threshold of 3%.

In sum, the two left-wing parties suffered defeats in the election.

In this election, the ruling Hanara Party won an overwhelming victory of 153 seats in the 299-seat congress. With the votes from other conservative groups, conservative MPs hold more than 200 seats, beyond the line for constitutional reform, while the opposition Unified Democratic Party (UDP) won only 81 seats. In that sense, conservative analysts claim this election is the final punishment for the Roh Moo-hyun government.

Low turnout

However, the most important fact in the election was the historically low turnout of voters. Only 46% of voters cast their ballots and more than half of voters abstained from voting — 17,389,206 out of 37,795,035 voters.

It means the vast majority of people lost hope in electoral politics, and the political institutions represent less than half the people. The allegedly “absolute majority” of conservatives, in fact, represents the opinion of the minority.

Furthermore, though the Hanara Party won a huge victory, its triumph is rather incomplete. Park Keun-hye led a court rebellion, both inside and outside the party. Her faction won about 40 MPs, and outside the party, pro-Park Solidarity won 14 seats. This group was composed of pro-Park politicians who failed to win Hanara’s candidacy and ran as independent candidates. Thus, Lee’s control over the party is vulnerable to a possible split or internal division.

Former Hanara presidential candidate Lee Hoe-chan’s party, the Freedom and Advance Party, succeeded in surviving as a local party dominating the Chungchung area. Another conservative party moves institutional politics further to the right. Many independent MPs were conservatives.

In contrast, the UDP’s loss is serious. The Democratic Party lost almost half its seats, down from 152 to 81 seats. And many of its leading figures, including even the party’s presidential candidate and party representative, lost their constituency seats.

After 10 years of rule, the party not only failed to complete the democratic reforms, but also pursued neoliberal policies, thereby destroying its own support base among the middle and lower classes.

Progressive forces

The DLP’s loss was expected, but considering the fiasco in the presidential election and the subsequent split of the PNP, five seats in parliament means its survival as a party.

However, considering the support it received from the Korean Federation of Trade Unions (KCTU) leaders and other popular movements, the result was modest. Without the unexpected victory of Kang Ki-gap in Jinju, the party’s profile would have been hampered more seriously.

Ironically, Kwon Young-gil, the party’s presidential candidate, who is mostly responsible for the poor result of the presidential election, saved his constituency seat.

The PNP failed to enter the parliament. The leaders of PNP, Shim Sang-jung and Roh Hoe-chan — popular former DLP MPs and media stars — lost in the constituency election. And from the party list, the PNP won just 2.94%.

Within the party, some members claim a victory and that there is potential, while others are critical towards the leadership’s shift to electoralism.

The extra-parliamentary left groups didn’t participate in the election — and criticised both the DLP and PNP as reformist parties. However, the left-wing groups outside the DLP are required to take an attitude toward the PNP, which is supposed to be refounded after the election.

Especially former KCTU president and former DLP MP Dan Byeong-ho’s position is important, because he disaffiliated from the DLP but refused to join PNP, insisting on building a genuine workers’ party.

Perspectives

The rearrangement or reconfiguration of politics, as well as progressive politics, is inevitable. The Lee Myung-bak government is going to start its neoliberal offensive on a massive scale, possibly initiating his ambitious, but insane, project of a great canal through the peninsula.

But his government will be faced with high expectations and tough resistance from both sides. And if Lee Myung-bak fails to obtain any tangible economic outcome in a short period, his leadership will be challenged from within his party and outside.

On the other hand, the labour, popular and social movements lost at the presidential and general elections. Thus, under the impact of defeats and splits, the legitimacy of the movements is still in jeopardy.

Though the DLP survived narrowly, the leadership and political capacity of the movement will be put to the test. And the PNP will be put to the test of surviving as an independent political force, independently of the majority national liberation current.

And the radical left that has been critical of the DLP will have to make a decision about how to intervene in the political rearrangement/regroupment of South Korea’s left-wing politics. Especially, the left-wing of PNP wants to build a broad left party that is distinct from the DLP, although radical left groups still have some doubt about the PNP left’s real intention.

In any case, the reconfiguration of left-wing politics will be on the agenda in the near future. On the other hand, the recent congress of the Power of the Working Class, a major radical leftwing group, declared its plan to build a working-class party and elected a new leadership. ]]> english_news 2008-05-16T12:35:21+09:00 South Korea:The general election and left-wing politics 2008-05-16T12:35:21+09:00 [AD]Film Screening and Discussion: The Revolution Will Not Be Televised http://www.newscham.net/news/view.php?board=news_E&id=55


The Venezuelan people, under the Hugo Chavez-led worker's government, have made massive gains in reducing poverty and exclusion through a revolutionary transformation of the political-economic model. This transformation is based upon the deepening consciousness of millions of ordinary people who are stepping into political life to rewrite and make their own history.

However, every step in this process of change has been met with fierce resistance by the Venezuelan elite and its backers in Washington. The most intense battle was the April 11 2002 coup, when the Venezuelan oligarchy and fascist military successfully overthrew the government only to be toppled 48 hours later through a worker-solider uprising.

'The Revolution Will Not Be Televised' amazingly captures the inside machinations of both the April Coup and the popular uprising to overthrow it in what has become a turning point in Latin American history and the struggle to build a better world.

On Sunday May 18th, 'Venceremos', a global solidarity network will present the documentary The Revolution Will Not Be Televised and discussion panel led by a special guest speaker from Venezuela in order to promote awareness and solidarity between people living in Korea and Venezuela. Are all welcome to join us in watching the film as well as the discussion afterwards.

Join the film screening and disscussion at 4 pm on 18th May at Mediact in Kwanghwamun! ]]> english_news 2008-05-14T13:59:09+09:00 [AD]Film Screening and Discussion: The Revolution Will Not Be Televised 2008-05-14T13:59:09+09:00 A Daughter of a Guerrilla http://www.newscham.net/news/view.php?board=news_E&id=54 Atom lives in the Sukirin Village in Southern Thailand, very near to the Malaysian border. Bombing incidents have been rife lately due to the increased activities of the so-called Muslim separatists in the area. Sukirin is one of the Peace Villages of the CPM ex-guerrillas. A film has recently been made by a young Malaysian Director, Amir Mohammad about it. However, this film is now banned by the Malaysian government, just like Amir’s first film which was entitled: "The Last Communist", even though "The Last Communist"had toured major international film festivals around the world including South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, India, New York etc. EBS in South Korea had also broadcasted the film in August 2006.

My mother

We called her ‘Mok’ (also Mak) in Malay – joined the Revolutionary Movement during the time of the Japanese occupation. She was a supporter of the Malayan People’s Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA) and she was involved in the Anti-Japanese Alliance. One day, she told us that she was leaving us. She was going to a secret meeting and that we should not tell anyone, otherwise she might lose her head (she will be killed). She told us not to worry and gave us milk and canned sardines, which she stashed away in the house for us to feed ourselves. So that we would not be hungry when she was gone. During the Japanese occupation, life was very hard. Rice like everything else was every expensive. People in the village had no food at all. Mok told us to live peacefully with the villagers. If anyone asked us for help, we were to help because everyone was suffering. Mok was good. She said to me: "They want to arrest me. I have to go into the jungle. But don’t worry about me."

I was fourteen years old when the Japanese came. I did not go to school. I have many brothers and sisters. My father died when I was only ten and Mok struggled to bring us up on her own. I started to menstruate when I was twelve and by thirteen, I was married and gave birth to a child soon after.

The Malay Progressive Democratic Organizations grew – Comrades brought the democratic revolutionary movement to us in our village. A strong alliance was formed with the emergence of AWAS (Battalion of Conscious Women), API (Movement of the Conscious Youth) and PETA (The Patriotic Fighters) in the village. They helped one another and they planted rice together. With the money they got from selling the rice, they bought other things. The women’s group was beautiful; they have the spirit of our ancestors and they all hated the Japanese colonizers.

Joining the Guerrillas

We were taught that the Communists were good people who respect and work for the good of our religion, people, and country. I finally left my nine-month old second child behind and joined the guerrillas in the jungle. When Mok saw me, she wailed: "Yalalalala, my child has abandoned her child!"But she still asked for water to be brought to me. No, I was not forced to join the party;I really wanted to join myself. Even though my comrades tried to dissuade me, they told me that I could do other work to support them by remaining outside the jungle. They said "I could have a red heart under the fair skin" (that I can still be a communist without showing it to the outside world). They warned me that inside the jungle there was only hardship. But I insisted because I was afraid to be arrested. So I tried to convince Mok to let me stay. She even agreed to take care of my children when I was gone. Unfortunately, she was arrested after she returned to our village.

Marriage

My husband and I entered the party at the same time. But he surrendered to the government in 1959, leaving me behind. He could not stand the hardship. Life was tough and we did not have enough to eat. We never saw any sugar or salt. This was a test of our determination, to differentiate between those of us who could take it and those of us who could not. We were educated in the same way by the party, including my husband. We already knew the evils of colonialism and its harmful effects on the people, society and religion. He too sat nicely in his chair receiving his education. So why could he not take the hardship, like the rest of us? He was also warned about the hardship before he entered the jungle and yet her an away in one of our big battles. He was even a leading cadre at that time but he could not endure the suffering. I stood firm. I could withstand the hardship in the jungle because being hungry was normal to me all my life. When we were still in Malaysia, we had to ask the Orang Asli for food. They gave us vegetables and potatoes. I did not feel that it was a problem because our leaders were with us. I did not meet my second husband again. Later he sent me a letter, "Min – that’s my nickname outside – make a rice field and plant padi (rice). Do not worry about me. I have returned to the village and I will look after our children. You continue with the work. "

I married again but the second marriage did not last either. He was a comrade and the father of my son, Azijah. We were attracted to each other at first but when he had a change of heart, we divorced and I became free again. I had two children from him. Unfortunately, one of them was killed by enemy bombardment. This husband also died later on but I do not know where.

In 1963, Comrade Mamat and I got married. I had no child from him but he treats my children as his own. Actually, I did get pregnant once but I lost it after 4 months of pregnancy when I fell while carrying heavy loads. Mamat was a close aid and bodyguard to our leaders. I became the leaders’ assistant from 1963. I became the leader of a squad later. Life was always busy and sometimes even fun too! l learnt my ABC while in the guerrillas army. I could only read a little of the Qu’ran (The Muslim’s Holy Book) before I entered the army.

The Long March

I remember our Long March vividly. We did it twice. The first one was in 1953 but we did not make it to our destination because there were too many obstacles on the way. So we had to retreat. We finally succeeded in 1955 and it took us one year and 4 months to accomplish the march, all the way from Malaysia to the border of Thailand. Throughout the journey, we had to fight many battles with the enemy. By that time, there were only 5 women comrades left in the troop. One of them later died in action and left four of us. Our lives today have become far more comfortable, so we do not forget what the Party has given us. Instead, I will always remember what the party has taught us. I am content with my life now. Had I not joined the party, I cannot imagine what kind of life I would have today.

Life as a Party Cadre

As a cadre, I had to allocate tasks and resources among the others. We were in a revolutionary struggle, which means we had to fight battles here and there, wherever we were. Yet I was never afraid, if I had problems, I just asked our leaders for advice. That helped to make things easier. The important thing I learnt in the army was not to lie about our abilities. To be honest with ourselves. Like me, I was not educated, so work with the outside world was not suitable for me. But I was bold and capable with work inside the jungle. In the army, we discussed things openly with one another; we had meetings everyday, so that we could raise any issues that were at hand. We learnt how to work and live collectively and not do things individually.

Deciding not to come home

When peace came, we were allowed to register to go back to Malaysia if we wanted. My children who now live in Malaysia had wanted me to move back to stay with them. But I finally decided not to because our leaders are here in the village, I do not want to leave them. I want to stay with them until they die. Mamat also agreed with me. He said, "We have been through so many hardships with our leaders in the jungle, so why should we leave them now? "

Life in the Village

We now have some savings because whenever my relatives visited us, they gave me money. It is money for the family. Mamat suggested that we changed our money from Malaysian Rinngit to Thai Baht and use some of it to buy a TV. So now Mamat can watch some Chinese programmes in the village. Shaharir, one of my sons bought me a fridge. Unfortunately, he died of lung cancer 3 years ago. He gave me 9,000 Thai Baht to buy the fridge before he went to Mecca for his pilgrimage. I think of him a lot. He was the son I had from my first husband whom I left behind to join the guerrillas when he was only 9-month old. Despite our new possessions, we are not rich today. We still live from day to day, with just enough to eat and drink. The party gave each senior comrade who is over sixty years old, 540 Thai Baht a month as allowance 1 Euro is equivalent to about 44 Thai Baht. Life has been all right. Now I only have two children left. One lives in Malaysia and the youngest lives with me in this village. The older one in Malaysia is a father of five children. Unfortunately, he is mute and his wife too. When he was very young, he could still call, "Father, mother, and grandmother...." Then one day he had an accident, he put some burning hot meat in his mouth and his tongue got burnt severely. From that day on, he could speak no more. But he can write. It is a pity that I have little education myself, so I prefer talking to writing. He got his education from a deaf-mute school. Luckily, all his five kids are normal.

Religious Choices

Initially, Mamat and I were considering to return home to Malaysia and live with my children there. I asked them what they think about Mamat, being a Chinese joining us. They told me it was not a problem at all so long as he converts to Islam. They said, "Race is not a problem, so long as he is a Muslim, we consider him Malay." But I thought it would be difficult for both of us to adapt to our Muslim community if we go back. We would have to follow what the others do; we could still have tried even if we were ill prepared. If people go to mosque, we go to mosque, if they fast, we also fast, if they pray, we pray too. Then we would not be isolated from the community. I guess had we decided to return, all these problems can be overcome. In my view, all races are like brothers and sisters. The human race is one; there is no difference between us. For the Malays and Muslims, as long as we convert to Islam, race does not matter. According to the Islamic laws, if Muslims are able to convert non-Muslims to Islam, that is a great merit in the eyes of God.

I have always been close to the Chinese. My mother even adopted a Chinese child before It is common among the Malaysians and Singaporeans during the time of war, to adopt children from different races, so that the child could survive with a family that could take good care of it. So for a Chinese family to give their child away to a Malay family was not a taboo and vice versa. , who belonged to a vegetable farmer in our village. She stayed in the same house with us. Our neighbours threatened to kill her but we told them, "We do you no wrong, no evil. Therefore, you should do us no evil. "My mother was good, she had a wide social circle and she told us not to listen to evil from others. She said, "If people talk like this, it is untrue. If we do no harm, others will not harm us too."

What makes me happy now is that I have become a useful human being. Because of the party, I am who I am today. Had I remained outside the jungle, I do not know what would become of me today.
]]> english_news 2008-04-11T21:44:32+09:00 A Daughter of a Guerrilla 2008-04-11T21:44:32+09:00 [Contribution] A Turn in Taiwanese Politics: Toward What? http://www.newscham.net/news/view.php?board=news_E&id=53 The complete defeat of the DPP by KMT in this past three months surely signal a historical turn in politics in Taiwan, and may have significant consequences in the geopolitics in East Asia and the US-China relations in the coming years. Taiwan is undergoing a dramatic change, so says every commentator on the event. The question is: toward what?

The defeat is so devastating for the Democratic Progressive Party, which was born out of the democratic movement of the 1970s and ‘80s and sees itself as the legitimate heir of the movement, that its level of political influence will revert to that of 1989 after Chen Shui-Bien hands over the presidency to Ma Ying-Jiu on May 20. It falls from the ruling party and one-time largest party in the parliament to a minor opposition holding less than 1/4of the parliamentary seats. Worse still is that the DPP as a party has lost much of its appeals it has striven to gain in the past two decades. It is now viewed by at least 60% of Taiwanese voters as corrupted, inept, full of nepotism and shameless under-the-table power-for-money dealings which are veiled over only by its empty ideological slogans. Save for the brutal persecution of dissents, the current image of DPP is almost exactly that of the KMT in its half-a-century rule before the 2000 election.

A reasonable question that follows is: Has the KMT changed itself so thoroughly in the past eight years so that it can now represent all the political virtues the DPP has lost? Are we going to see a repented and reformed new party coming back to power, as KMT campaigners claim? This is a pressing question because no one party, not even KMT itself, has ever held so much power since the first free and full election of the parliament in 1992. Three-fourth legislative majority plus the executive power means that the KMT, should it be able to hold itself together, can pretty much do whatever it wants now. Many of the 40% of the Taiwanese voters who stick to DPP despite its rotten reputation (called "Deep Green" because of the party color) are now fretting that what comes on May 20 is the return of the old martial-law days. Even worse is that the new administration will now be friendly toward Mainland China’s Communist Party. So it will be two corrupted authoritarian parties joined together and rule over our island.

KMT reborn?

Judged from the appearance, the worries of the Deep Green are nothing but paranoid. Mr. Ma is as far away from the old-fashioned big-bellied, bald-headed KMT party bosses, and the hideous DPP politicians that followed, as possible. He is handsome, physically fit, amicable, trying very hard to be humble despite his Harvard Ph. D. degree. He has never been involved in any sex or money scandals except for this one inappropriate use of special allowances, and he has been acquitted for that. After he got elected, he keeps his regular morning jog and his wife still goes to work by bus, only now with hordes of security officers and reporters in tow.

Ma Ying-Jiu is avowedly anti-corruption. Actually his first high-profile political post is minister of justice in 1993 and he vowed to crack down on the rampant corruption (among the KMT politicians, of course) with an iron hand. However, he was soon replaced before he did any serious harm on the way his party comrades enriched themselves.

The biggest merit of Ma Ying-Jiu as a candidate, and the biggest problem of him as a president, is that there is scarcely anyone like him in KMT. He is spotless! The reason why he won party primary so easily and his campaign can hold the whole pan-Blue camp (KMT and its splinters) so tightly together is exactly because his camp can offer no one else of the same caliber who has not been mired in one scandal or another.

The composition of the current Legislative Yuan (parliament) is suggestive. Among the 73 legislators (out of 113) elected from the districts, one-third have known ties with organized crime, and the majority of the rest represent traditional local factions. These factions control local financial institutions, using their hold on the local governments to profit from real-estate speculation, and all of them have associated construction companies specialized in skimming hefty profits from public works. These factions were nurtured by KMT during the martial-law decades as their grassroots organizations, and grew into dominant powers inside the party because of its ability to get votes through intricate local networks. The DPP has their own share of such traditional politicians; many defected from the KMT camp, others successfully learned how to play local politics from the KMT.

The rest of the legislators are from party-list votes and are supposed to represent the values their parties hold and the voices of the disadvantaged sectors. Yet they are not any less old-fashioned on the side of the KMT. Many are still traditional local faction leaders.

The KMT camp has always have difficulty getting clean and fresh people nominated inside the party. For instance, the "labor representative" KMT nominated on its party-list for the past two legislative elections was Hou Tsai-Fong (侯彩鳳),who has also been long-time members of KMT central standing committee. She holds the title of president of one of the national trade union federations. Her federation oddly holds the legal monopoly power of representing workers in all the Export Processing Zones in Taiwan even during the DPP administration. And her husband is one of the biggest banker-qua-politicians in the industrial city of Kaohsiung. Lucky for KMT is that Hou decides to turn to district election this time. But the person who replaces her as KMT’s "labor representative" this time is yet another local developer-politician who has not one iota of experience in either working or trade-union activities. He bought his presidency to KMT-controlled China Federation of Labor just for being nominated to KMT’s party-list.

So, what kind of government will the Ma administration be? An angel leading a bunch of hyenas? Worse still, Ma is no powerful archangel who can strike a lightening on any undisciplined hyena under his charge. Instead, he is a nice guy. Despite his comparatively strict self-discipline, compromise is what he is known to be good at in politics.

Optimistic pan-Blue supporters can seek comfort from another source: the so-called technocratic tradition of KMT. It is widely believed, even among the DPP supporters, that there were an army of smart, law-abiding, altruist and visionary public servants running Taiwan’s economy during the decades of high economic growth from 1960s to the 1980s. While the now-powerful local faction bosses were still party minions in the countryside, the technocrats held absolute power over the policies of the central government (because the Legislative Yuan was a bogus one and no check-and-balance existed then), and they use those power only for providing excellent investment environment for the capital, not for their personal gains. Some of these figures such as K. T. Lee（李國鼎）are so widely acclaimed by the media, especially the business press, that they are believed to be the true reason behind Taiwan’s prosperity at that time. Conversely, the absence of people like them in the eight years of DPP rule can be used to explain the economic depression of recent years. Whether this is historically accurate is highly debatable, and this view grossly overlooked the prices paid by Taiwanese people in those decades: human rights violations, labor abuses, rural poverty, environmental devastation, and so on. However, since the image of Ma looks so much like a K. T. Lee-style technocrat, maybe he will build up an effective executive branch like the old days, and disregard the worrisome tendencies in the parliament? Maybe, maybe not, but it’s comforting to think that way, especially after two decades of capital flight.

If all of the above fails, the new KMT government still has one fool-proof solution to Taiwan’s economic ails: China. While the DPP was busy provoking China, and pissing off the US along the way, by their pursuit of formal independence of Taiwan, and vainly preventing Taiwanese capitalists from rushing into Mainland China, KMT has established close party-to-party dialogues with the Chinese Communist Party in recent years. Opening up trade, travel, investment and all other ties with China is high on the agenda of Ma’s campaign. In fact, many of the KMT party bosses (along with some DPP politicians) have become important investors in China, sharing the profit from China’s massive privatization of public assets with their local hosts. All those are so familiar for them because this was exactly what KMT was doing themselves in the 1990 in Taiwan. As for the common people, China means the possibility of a small-time Taiwanese businessman or even a force-retired worker with some savings having a chance to strike it rich with its vast market and cheap labor. Or maybe the rich Chinese are interested in Taiwan, too. They will be welcomed here as tourist and/or real-estate and stock-market speculators, providing jobs and boosting the prices of the two-bed-room apartment and the meager share of stocks a common Taiwanese family owns. China means growth! Few care to ask, however, growth for whom?

As for the movement. . .

So, is the downfall of DPP good or bad for the social movements and the progressive cause? This is a question frequently asked but curiously seldom debated among activists in Taiwan. Taiwanese activists tend to be empiricists and reluctant to imagine what they have not encountered before.

One thing for sure is this: The demoralized DPP is now undergoing self-criticism. All versions of self-criticism raised by DPP members so far contends that the party made a historical mistake by abandoning its progressive characteristics after 2000 and thus blurred its difference with KMT except on the question of national identity. Hence, these people call for the party to re-link itself to the social movements. And most of the activists believe that the DPP is unable to do this now.

Before 2000, the biggest divide inside the broadly defined social movements in Taiwan is "the DPP question." Is it worthwhile for the movements to concentrate all our effort and support the relatively progressive party to gain power? Or does it make more sense to remain vigilant to all mainstream political parties because all they want is just power? Eight years of DPP administration proven the latter correct. The Chen Shui-Bien government abandoned most of the progressive elements in DPP’s party program and his own campaign platform almost immediately after he got elected in 2000. Sometimes the DPP explained this as a result of boycott from KMT legislators. Other times, such as on the issue of abandoning nuclear power, they simply suggested that the US would’t like it, and that’s that. There have been scattered policy measures for the disadvantaged groups here and there during the DPP administration, mostly in the form of cash hand-outs. Yet much more visible are the continued privatization of public assets and hand-out to big corporations.

Many of the pro-DPP activists have been recruited into the DPP government in the past eight years. Few of them have achieved anything substantial, and many of them even contradict what they have been advocating before. With track records like that, it will be very hard for them to regain the trust of their former allies and supporters in the movement.

Some social-movement groups have reverted from mass organizations to legislative lobbies during the DPP administration. Chief among them is the pro-DPP Taiwan Labor Front, once the biggest faction in the autonomous trade-union movement, but now a tiny office with a staff of one or two after all its important leaders either became labor administrators in the DPP government or retired in comfort. Women’s movement used to be highly visible in the mid-1990s. But after its liberal tendencies joined the DPP government and the radical tendencies failed to gain new grounds, it is stagnant for quite some time now.

The old ways of legislative lobbying is bound to be less and less useful under the new KMT government. Since 1992, after the Legislative Yuan was fully re-elected, many social-movement groups, from labor to animal rights, have been using partisan rivalry in the parliament and try to make their agenda made into law. After 2000, sometimes advocacy groups will try to make use of the contradictions between the executive branch and the KMT-dominated parliament. Mass actions are often seen as only an auxiliary pressure tactic aiding the legislative campaigns. Sometimes the movements gain incremental reform measures, sometimes they don’t. However, in this new parliament, the opposition is reduced to such an insignificant minority, and with the presidency in the hand of the same party, all possibilities of policy reform in effect depends solely on the will of the KMT. This is a whole new game.

I personally think this is a healthy development in the long run. For the past twenty years, social movements in Taiwan have been too busy playing the infinitely intricate political games with the mainstream parties and spend too little on grassroots mobilization. Now, with one party firmly in power, there cease to be numerous options and combinations of options to belabor our minds. You either succumb to the authority, or organize and fight. ]]> english_news 2008-04-07T16:43:51+09:00 [Contribution] A Turn in Taiwanese Politics: Toward What? 2008-04-07T16:43:51+09:00